Chapter Fourteen #3
Rob had suggested calling his personal attorney, but the violations actually existed and had already been documented.
His attorney couldn’t make the violations disappear.
At least, Lily would still have the Code Enforcement Department manager there with her to vouch for her right to remain in her cottage.
The Special Magistrate had to rule in her favor.
To add insult to injury, she’d be forced to go into her trust fund for the very first time to fix all the code violations at once since she hadn’t planned for that level of expenditure in her fiscal budget.
The unfairness of the situation grated on her.
Code violations discovered only a couple weeks ago would be held aloft like dirty laundry for the whole world to see.
No way would she let them force her to leave her childhood home.
She vowed long ago never to give up the nursery’s location, regardless of her circumstances.
She’d fight to the death for Hank’s spot on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Okay maybe that was over the top, but she refused to give in.
Hank had chosen this site, and for that reason alone, the nursery would stay right where it was.
She had fought back tears ever since the Whittenhurst call, but sitting here all alone in the dark had worn down her resolve. She could feel the tears burning behind her eyelids, and she desperately wished Hank could be here to help her.
She struggled to her feet, needing to get to the cottage where she could have a good cry in peace.
Just the thought of the cottage brought on a fresh supply of tears.
How many nights did she have left in her home?
Maybe she could just rent an apartment to have a legal address and still quietly slip back here every night.
She brushed away the few escaping tears.
No. Lily Foster is a rule follower. If the law says I can’t live here, then I won’t.
She locked the front office door and headed out the back to walk to her cottage.
The air had chilled when she finally stepped outside, the suffocating heat in abeyance.
She would normally go for a jog at this time of night, but she felt too overwhelmed.
She locked the back door, pocketed her keys, and turned for the gravel drive.
“Lily.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and a momentary panic hit hard.
She knew that voice and gazed into the shadows at the corner of the building.
The light over the back door cast just enough illumination to make out Rhett’s form in the twilight beneath the trees.
He looked even larger than she remembered, broader somehow, though she had last seen him less than a week ago.
He didn’t move. He just stood there and waited for her to do or say something.
Except Lily felt paralyzed. It had been so easy to remain angry when she hadn’t been able to see him or hear his voice. Gazing through the shadows at the stark outlines of his handsome face and hearing the deep timbre in his voice thrummed every nerve ending in her body.
Still he waited, and the silence seemed interminable.
No doubt silence was one of his best negotiating ploys, and the thought perked a shot of adrenaline into her system.
She wasn’t some company he could walk in and take over or run right over.
His tactics wouldn’t work here. Some of her fire returned, and she recalled his heated words at the barbecue.
Even now, days later, the words still carried a painful sting.
“You’re trespassing,” she said softly and wished she could have sounded more firm, but she had trouble getting air into her lungs.
“Yes.”
That’s it? Just yes?
She waited.
So did he.
Eventually impatience won out. “Why are you here?” she demanded. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
He took one step forward, nearer the light, and paused as though fearful she would run.
He had gotten close before she spotted him.
Now only ten feet separated them. She felt a pang of alarm, wanting desperately to stand her ground and yet fearful she might charge straight into his well-muscled arms.
“Haven’t you said enough?” she asked. “What could be left to say?”
“I’m sorry, for starters.”
He took another step, and she did consider bolting.
Would he give chase? He could surely catch her in a few strides.
If he pulled her into his arms, she was lost. She couldn’t risk that.
She couldn’t let him hurt her again. The risk was too great.
The pain was too much. Almost as bad as losing Hank.
She needed to hate Rhett Buchanan. She wanted to. Safer that way.
She couldn’t.
“I was wrong, Lily. So very wrong.” His voice came low and soft through the shadows, like passionflower vines twining around and pulling her close.
“Yes, you were.”
“I was a damn fool too. I’ve spent my entire life either not good enough and too poor to fit in with the other kids or surrounded by people who only wanted to get close to me because of my money.
There was never any in-between for me. Until you.
You were different. You wanted me for me, and I fell hard for you because I’d been searching for someone like you my whole life. When I thought you were—” He paused.
There was just enough light around him she could see his jaw muscles flex.
“—masquerading as someone I wasn’t, you insisted on believing I set a trap,” she said stiffly.
He winced. “I’m sorry. When I thought, what I thought, I felt so betrayed and hurt, so mad about losing what we had, I went a little crazy.”
She lifted her brows. “A little?”
“Okay, a lot. I had no right to say all those things to you. Even before Shaw set me straight, I think I knew deep in my heart none of those things could be true. But seeing you at the gala with Shaw and then at the barbecue with that horn dog, Aidan Cross, I was so angry I couldn’t see straight.
I don’t think I knew what I was saying at the barbecue.
I just knew I didn’t want either of those guys with you, touching you.
Lily, I will do anything to make it up to you.
I was wrong, and I have never in my life been so glad to be utterly and completely wrong about someone. ”
Somehow he’d eased to within a few feet of her.
The floodlight near the back door allowed her to see him clearly now.
She lost herself in his gaze. He stared as though willing her to see into his soul.
He had gone deathly still. He didn’t blink.
His eyes looked so trusting, so confident she would make the right decision in this life-altering moment between them.
She felt overwhelmed by the impact her next few words would make.
“Forgive others, if you expect forgiveness yourself,” Hank always said.
Eyes really are a gateway to the soul if one is patient, and suddenly she saw the truth.
Rhett had hurt her out of fear and insecurity, not for lack of caring or emotion.
He had cared too much, and his own vulnerability had blinded him.
He now trusted her to make the right choice for both of them. He had left the choice up to her.
She could trust Rhett! She knew it like she knew the sun would rise tomorrow. She knew with a certainty that made her feel lightheaded, and she knew with just as much certainty she loved this man. He had bared his heart, and now he waited for her answer.
She watched the confidence in his eyes turn into questions. Would Lily rant? Would she be calm? Would she forgive him? Did he still have a chance?
“Garrett will be so sorry he didn’t get to hear you admit you were wrong,” she said softly.
He inhaled sharply and then a smile twitched at the edges of his mouth and slowly spread across his face.
She had left the door open without committing.
The next move was his, and like Rhett, he wasted no time.
He covered the distance between them in two strides and pulled her into his arms, crushing her so hard against his chest she could barely breathe.
And she felt wonderful.
“Oh Lily,” he whispered into her hair, “I’ve missed you so much. Forgive me, baby. Tell me you forgive me.” He nestled her cheeks in his big palms so he could see her eyes.
“I’ll forgive you if you’ll forgive me for not telling you about my nursery right when I met you.”
His mouth was on hers before the last words left her lips.
Cradling her cheeks, he made gentle strafing runs across her lips to tease them apart and steal her breath.
Going slow when she was desperate to dive right in.
She touched the tip of her tongue to his, teasing a guttural growl from him that made her heart hammer with reckless abandon.
Crushing her to him, he slowly sank into her mouth and deepened the kiss until her toes curled in her sneakers and she could only cling to him, wild with need and a hunger for more.
Refusing to let her go, Rhett made slow sumptuous love to her mouth, leaving her weak-kneed and dizzied.
Consumed with her desire, she arched her into him, frantic to get closer still, trying to match him kiss for rapturous kiss as her tongue curled against his in passion’s sensual tango.
His hands were everywhere, her shoulders, her back, her bottom.
She threaded tingling fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck and held on for dear life, determined to keep his lips pressed against hers until she absolutely had to come up for air.
Lily had been so sure she would never feel Rhett’s arms around her ever again, and now that those muscular arms held her captive, she felt like a dying-of-thirst wayfarer who suddenly stumbled into an oasis.
She desperately wanted to go faster and yet go slower, so she could memorize the feel of his mouth against hers, immerse herself in his scent and his taste so she would never forget.
So she could have these moments forever.
As the words I love you bubbled up in her throat, an explosion rocked the earth beneath their feet and spun them backward toward the building.